104 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



I know how shocked some of our modern breeders .will be at the idea of 

 their favorites having in their veins a drop of Pointer blood. It is well, per- 

 haps, that it is not generally known how many fashionable strains have been 

 vitiated with much more objectionable blood than that of the Pointer. I have 

 seen Droppers, yes, and dogs bred from Droppers, possessing exquisite powers of 

 scent, lovely tempers, and great pace. I think there is reason to believe the 

 Spaniel to be the foundation of our present Setter. 



As a case showing that it is possible for cross-bred dogs to breed true, I 

 know of a black Setter bitch, three crosses from Pointer, belonging to Robert 

 Warner, of Leicester Abbey. She was good herself, having all the qualities 

 of a pure Setter, and curiously enough, she bred well from either a Setter or 

 Pointer. Mr. Warner gave his keeper (who afterward came into my service) 

 a brace of black puppies, by a Pointer, of this bitch. They looked all over 

 Pointers, they worked like Pointers, they were excellent Pointers, and were 

 sold, when broken, at forty guineas a good price in those days. I myself had 

 Setters from her, and they were good Setters and showed all Setter character- 

 istics. 



The above explicit statement was made in a letter to 

 Mr. Vero Shaw; and the latter, in his valuable work, the 

 "Book of the Dog," adds: 



A strong confirmation of Mr. Lort's theory is to be found in the subjoined 

 engraving from a painting by the famous French artist, Alexander Franyois 

 Desportes. This great animal painter born in 1661, and died in 1743 was 

 elected a member of the French Royal Academy of Painting in 1699, and of 

 its Council in 1704. For many years he occupied the court position of histori- 

 ographer of the chase, created expressly for him by Louis XIV. ; and his pict- 

 ures, which are very numerous, can har.lly be surpassed for their fidelity to 

 Nature. The engraving we reproduce from his pencil is entitled, " Dogs and 

 Partridges," and is valuable as distinctly showing that the Pointer had been 

 crossed with the Spaniel before and during his time, and that the result was a 

 dog very like our modern Setter. 



Mr. Shaw, on another page of his work, also places the 

 seal of his indorsement on the reasonableness of a theory 

 advanced by the well-known writer, Elaine, in regard to the 

 conversion of the ancient Spaniel into the modern Setter. 

 Mr. Elaine's suggestion is that a cross with one of the 

 celeres, or swift-footed dogs, was resorted to, and that the 

 Pointer is probably a cross between the Spaniel and one or 

 other of the pugnaces. Mr. Youatt, in his valuable work 

 on the dog, also says: "It was long the fashion to cross 

 and mix them [Setters] with the Pointer." 



As further evidence that alien blood may have been used 

 in establishing some strains of Setters, the following quo- 



